Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[SillyChicken]

To the new folks!


Our gardens been good and bad as well. The green peppers are doing super... had I not had (HAD) a ground hog issue early on, my beans would have been rocking too, now, I only have 2 rows left of the 8 we planted (and replanted beans)! Potatoes and onions are doing well and so are tomatoes after I fenced them off better (rabbits). Peas, carrots and beets........ forget about it! Never even grew. The weeds have had a phenomenal year! We've canned over 50 pints of beans and 8 quarts of tomatoes. Can you fix blossom rot at this stage of the game?

Does anyone know if the little seed pods off the potato plant will produce potatoes? I found a handful of them off the plants this year.

OPA, hope your feeling better today. When ever I have a tumble like that, I go take some ibuprofen as soon as I can. Helps with the morning after fall effects too.

 

[Elliemae 77]

Taprock, thank-you for that legal link. That will come in handy if push comes to shove.

 

[Elliemae 77]

Stockade fence? Do you mean cattle panels?

 

[gladahmae]

Are you telling me that you fertilized them with diaper soup?

As for squash bugs, can you let the chickens get at them? Now, or later in the Fall if there are still other veggies around them? They took care of mine.

Fertilizing with diaper soup? NOW you're on to something!

I'd love to put the chickens into the garden, but ALL of my tomato plants are in there and I fear that the easy-pecking of the tomatos would be too much of a distraction from the squash bugs. Once the tomatos are in, we'll probably put them in there some to do some creepy-crawly control, and free enriching of the soil.

 

[Juise]

To the new folks!


Our gardens been good and bad as well. The green peppers are doing super... had I not had (HAD) a ground hog issue early on, my beans would have been rocking too, now, I only have 2 rows left of the 8 we planted (and replanted beans)! Potatoes and onions are doing well and so are tomatoes after I fenced them off better (rabbits). Peas, carrots and beets........ forget about it! Never even grew. The weeds have had a phenomenal year! We've canned over 50 pints of beans and 8 quarts of tomatoes. Can you fix blossom rot at this stage of the game?

Does anyone know if the little seed pods off the potato plant will produce potatoes? I found a handful of them off the plants this year.

OPA, hope your feeling better today. When ever I have a tumble like that, I go take some ibuprofen as soon as I can. Helps with the morning after fall effects too.

That's generally not over watering but blossom end rot which is a calcium deficiency. Though I suppose over watering could wash the calcium out of the soil... but I am not a a soil expert.

Hmm, okay, I've never had that problem before, I will have to look into it, thanks guys.

Fertilizing with diaper soup? NOW you're on to something!

Ugh, I don't even want to think of the smell, I think I am going to be sick. LOL I can't even handle that in the bin, I have always used a dry bin, the wet bin method is just way, way too disgusting for me!

 

[laura877]

My garden is doing good in some things and others I am waiting on. I too had problems with black ends on my tomatoes last year and was told the same...calcium def. I didn't do anything abt it except move the tomatoes to a different part of the garden. A part that happens to have 2 horses buried under it. There are doing find so I don't know if the calcium came up thru or what.

We've been getting enough tomatoes for sandwiches so far (my DH loves bologna, tomatoes and chesse sandwiches). I too had lots of green plants for the longest time. We have gone thru the first planting of corn (a 65 day variety) and are now starting on a 75 day variety. Just not enough at one time to cook and freeze. Cuks, Zucchini and yellow squash are so rampant that we have to pick every 2 days. I have been taking these, adding some tomatoes and fresh corn and cutting up and adding equal parts sugar and vinegar for a veggie meal at dinner. We love it so much I think that I will trying canning some for winter.

I too am having a problem with squash bugs and it seems that they are going onto the grape vines now too as they are real close to the garden. I planted some rhubarb this year and its starting to coming up good. I was wondering if I can pick some stems this late in the season and make some strawberry/rhubarb jam.

I planted some strawberry plants this year that are supposed to have berries in the spring and fall. I got them from my daughter who planted a 20,000+ sq ft garden this year and is selling at farmers market. She does lots of research first before planting. She told me to pick ALL blossums off of these young strawberry plants to encourage plant growth. I did that to all but one plant. I just had to let a few berries developed. They did and I can say that they were some of the sweetest berries that I have every had.

I hadn't planted broccoli in years as I got so tired of the little green worms. But this year I did companion planting and haven't had hardly any bugs anywhere. Broccoli is doing so good so I am freezing right now. I'm trying to find one of those vacuum freezer appliances on CL as mine is shot. I told DH we need to get a table down by the road with a lockbox so I can put all my extra veggies out and let people make donations.

 

[fuzzybutt love]

Fuzzy- Yep, Andy's Discount Appliance.

I think DH and i met your family, he was super nice! We were really bummed when he discontinued the food part. Got some of our coolest spices there! And the only lemon juice in a bottle that i have ever liked when i tried it for making homemade lemonaid . The other brands just ain't right............I keep trying to point people over there, he was a truly honest person and i would trust anything he had for sale.

 

[Wynette]

caz426 - WELCOME! Glad you found us! Such an honorable profession, nursing. I wish you the VERY best of luck!

Gardens: Mine is tiny, just a few tomatoes and peppers, and a couple cukes, but all are doing fabulously. For me, they key is not to have too awfully many. Working & running a small farm takes a ton of time, and the garden seems to always be at the bottom of the list for weeding, etc. Last time I weeded, the weeds were higher than my plants

- it's a wonder I even have fruits/veggies now! I'm sure they were in shock once I removed all their weed friends!

 

[jrsckn]

I hadn't planted broccoli in years as I got so tired of the little green worms. But this year I did companion planting and haven't had hardly any bugs anywhere. Broccoli is doing so good so I am freezing right now. I'm trying to find one of those vacuum freezer appliances on CL as mine is shot. I told DH we need to get a table down by the road with a lockbox so I can put all my extra veggies out and let people make donations.

Please elaborate on companion planting, I gave up on broccoli this year because I spent soooo many hours picking those worms in previous years that I just couldn't bring myself to do it again. Our foodsaver took a crap on us this year too. We ordered a new one but it's nowhere near as good as our old prehistoric model was lol.

 

[chicken grandma]

Actually, I have many ducks and geese. The two random ones are just pets that are kept in with some of our chickens. They have bonded together as they lived together with their former family for about 4 years before they were given to us. I think it would be more cruel at this point to separate them and put them in with their "own kind".

Oh, that is interesting. I did not know that a duck and a goose would bond! How sweet!